Democrat Liz Mathis' Tuesday win to the
Iowa Senate preserves a Democratic majority and keeps a gay marriage
debate at bay in the chamber.

The Des
Moines Register is reporting that Mathis edged out her
Republican rival, small business owner Cindy Golding, with 56 percent
of the vote.

“I pledge to the voters of this
district: I will go to the Capitol and fight for you every day. I
will be your voice in the state Senate,” Mathis is quoted as
saying.

The special election was an opportunity
for Republicans to break Democrats' one-seat majority in the Senate,
where Majority Leader Michael Gronstal has kept an effort to repeal
the state's gay marriage from reaching the Senate floor.

Groups opposed to gay marriage,
including the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Bob Vander
Plaats' The Family Leader, had poured money into the $1 million race
and had highlighted Mathis' support for the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court
ruling that brought gay marriage to the Midwest, despite the fact
that neither candidate had made much of the issue.

“The Future of Marriage Hangs In the
Balance,” read a headline from a NOM mailer attacking Mathis for
her views on the issue.

“This is a pivotal election contest
in our battle to allowing the people of Iowa the opportunity to vote
to restore marriage,” said NOM President Brian Brown in a
statement.

A last-minute robocall that urged
voters to call Mathis and ask her “which homosexual sex acts she
endorses” was condemned by NOM. The group said in a statement that
it was not responsible for the anonymous calls and suggested the
Mathis campaign or its supporters were behind the “dirty trick.”